Ags named No. 3 national seed, will host Louisiana, Texas & Grambling State

The Road to Omaha unsurprisingly runs through Aggieland.

Following an impressive regular season, Texas A&M has been selected as the No. 3 national seed, the highest in program history, in the 2024 NCAA Tournament. By virtue of being a top-eight club, the Aggies will have a home-field advantage through the first two weekends of the tournament.

In addition to A&M, the 2024 Bryan-College Station Regional field includes Louisiana, Texas and Grambling State.

The four-team, double-elimination format begins at noon CT on Friday.

The Aggies will face Grambling State in a first-round ballgame at Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park.

This weekend will be the 13th regional contested at Olsen Field since the ballpark’s construction in 1978.

As the No. 4 seed in Aggieland, Grambling State brings a 26-26 overall record into the NCAA Tournament. The Tigers finished 18-8 in the Southwestern Athletic Conference and finished second in the SWAC West before going 5-1 in last weekend’s conference tournament to capture the league’s automatic bid.

Also headed to the Brazos Valley will be Louisiana and Texas, as the No. 2 and No. 3 seeds, respectively.

The Ragin’ Cajuns and Longhorns will play each other at 5 p.m. CT on Friday evening.

No strangers to Aggieland, the Sun Belt regular-season champion Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns were a No. 3 seed in the 2022 College Station Regional, but in 2024, Matt Deggs & Co. enter the NCAA Tournament with a 40-18 overall record and a 23-7 conference mark. With the nation’s No. 38 RPI, Louisiana was 0-3 vs. Power 5 opponents in 2024, losing to Vanderbilt, LSU and Houston at the Astros Foundation College Classic in March.

The Aggies and Ragin’ Cajuns have met 23 times, with A&M owning a 14-9 series lead. The last matchup was a winner’s bracket ballgame in the 2022 College Station Regional, which the Aggies won, 9-6.

Also unsurprisingly, the NCAA selection committee has matched up Texas with A&M as David Pierce and the Longhorns come to Bryan-College Station with a 35-22 record. Texas went 20-10 in Big 12 play to finish third before quickly going 0-2 in the conference tournament in Arlington. Further, the Aggies and Longhorns met earlier this year in Austin, with the Fightin’ Farmers leaving UFCU Disch-Falk Field with a 9-2 win on March 5.

In their final year as non-conference opponents, this will be the third time A&M and Texas will be paired in the same regional. The rivals met at the 2014 Houston Regional at Reckling Park and again in the 2018 Austin Regional. They also met at the 2022 Men’s College World Series, with A&M downing the Horns in an Omaha elimination game, 10-2.

The 2024 Bryan-College Station Regional is paired with the Santa Barbara Regional, which features UCSB, San Diego, Oregon and Fresno State.

The winners from Aggieland and Santa Barbara will meet next weekend in a best-of-three super regional for a ticket to the 2024 Men’s College World Series in Omaha.